November 6, 2008 in Sports

Playoffs begin with limited title hopes

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No North Idaho football team will win a state championship.

Now before anyone says, “Gee, Lee, that’s really stepping out on a limb,” consider that I think a couple of teams actually have a shot at a state title. That would be Lewiston in 5A and Kootenai in 1A Division II.

Overall, the quality of football in the Panhandle was down this year. That’s a fact, not a smart-alecky remark. That statement, though, could be said statewide – especially in the 5A ranks.

There’s no Lake City of 2006, Meridian of 2005 or Highland of any year it captured one of its eight state championships. Any one of those 10 teams is special, obviously, and doesn’t come around every year.

The biggest obstacle facing the 2008 Lewiston (9-0) team is a potential semifinal matchup in the Boise area against either No. 1-ranked Eagle (9-0) or Vallivue (8-1), which beat Lake City 49-41 in a shootout three weeks ago at LC. Eagle traveled to Post Falls in September and was impressive in a 37-20 win.

I saw Lewiston for the first time last Friday when the Bengals clinched the Inland Empire League title at Lake City. The Bengals are blessed to have standout skill players in Ryan Young and Ridge Fuentes, and 6-foot-6 junior quarterback Justin Podrabsky has a nice arm. Other top players are running back Joey Walton and tight end/linebacker Kyler Nilsson.

LC (4-5) has the unenviable task of traveling to Highland (7-2). This Highland team isn’t anywhere near the level of Rams teams of the past. In fact, I’m not so sure this Highland team would beat the Highland team that lost to LC 35-6 in the ’06 final.

But for Idaho teams, Highland is next to unbeatable in its home environment, Idaho State University’s Holt Arena. Sure, LC has been to Pocatello once this year where it pulled off a come-from-behind 34-33 win over Del Oro of Loomis, Calif. Del Oro is no Highland.

If LC pulls off a big upset, the Timberwolves would have a semifinal game at home against either Capital (8-1), which lost 42-28 at Lewiston two weeks ago, or Mountain View (7-2), which opened the season with a 28-6 win over visiting Post Falls.

Under the new 5A playoff format, Lewiston and LC are seeded on opposite sides of the bracket. That means that the teams could end up playing each other in the state final.

While waiting to do my postgame interviews Friday at LC, I heard a Lewiston assistant coach telling LC players, “We’ll see you in the state title game,” as he shook their hands.

Could that happen? It’s not something I’d bet on, but since no team has established itself as the clear-cut favorite going into the postseason it certainly is within the realm of possibility.

Panhandle picks

I went 5-2 in the final week of the regular season, making me 59-30 overall. On to the postseason.

Lake City at Highland: This might have been a mountain too difficult for the Timberwolves to scale to begin with, but add to the fact that most visiting teams leave on the short end of things at Holt Arena and you get the picture of how monumental the task could be for LC.

The T-Wolves will have difficulty defending quarterback Taysom Hill, who has given an oral commitment to Stanford. It will take a flawless effort for LC to win. Highland 34, LC 24.

Idaho Falls at Lewiston: The Bengals believe they can advance to the state title game. Believing is half the battle. Lewiston 37, IF 20.

Mountain Home at Sandpoint: The Tigers (8-1) have a better record but haven’t played the schedule the Bulldogs (4-5) have played. Sandpoint 21, Mountain Home 14.

Timberlake at Fruitland: Most of the time the better team wins. In this case, the Grizzlies are by far the better team. Fruitland 36, Timberlake 7.

Mullan at Kootenai: The Warriors beat the Tigers by 46-0 and 58-6 counts in league and the games were over before halftime. That’s all you need to know. Kootenai 52, Mullan 6.

Deary at Wallace: The Mustangs will run away from the Miners. Deary 48, Wallace 6.

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